'Stop Cryin' in the Rear Rank' Can this be true?
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'Stop Cryin' in the Rear Rank' Can this be true?
'Stop Cryin' in the Rear Rank' is the title of a very interesting book which I found whilst searching out non-mainstream titles in the 'Military History' listings on Ebay. It is subtitled 'An Armourer's Worm's Eye View of World War II From the Ground' (which is rather tautological I think).
It is the first hand experiences of former Sgt Ron Borg during WW2 and was privately published in Canada so I suspect it is quite a rare publication. There is a vast amount of detail of life in the RAF, from his pre-war days as a Halton Apprentice to his various postings during the war and in Canada afterwards.
The point of this post however relates to a rhetorical question which he poses in the book -'Which member of 149 Squadron [flew on] the most operations?' He continues - 'It was certainly not a member of the aircrew but a young armourer on my flight. He did his work and whenever possible went on missions to the Continent. He preferred to fly with Commonwealth types; perhaps they had better chocolate and other candy. He did this for many months and was very popular with aircrews as he always returned safely. He was a sort of good luck charm. For obvious reasons I preferred not to know about his flying hobby. Provided his work was done satisfactorily, I regarded his 'dicing with death' as his own business'.
Can this be possible? Was it a common event for ground crew members to go unofficially on missions over Germany?
It is the first hand experiences of former Sgt Ron Borg during WW2 and was privately published in Canada so I suspect it is quite a rare publication. There is a vast amount of detail of life in the RAF, from his pre-war days as a Halton Apprentice to his various postings during the war and in Canada afterwards.
The point of this post however relates to a rhetorical question which he poses in the book -'Which member of 149 Squadron [flew on] the most operations?' He continues - 'It was certainly not a member of the aircrew but a young armourer on my flight. He did his work and whenever possible went on missions to the Continent. He preferred to fly with Commonwealth types; perhaps they had better chocolate and other candy. He did this for many months and was very popular with aircrews as he always returned safely. He was a sort of good luck charm. For obvious reasons I preferred not to know about his flying hobby. Provided his work was done satisfactorily, I regarded his 'dicing with death' as his own business'.
Can this be possible? Was it a common event for ground crew members to go unofficially on missions over Germany?
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Well if it's against the rules somebody is gonna do it 
Trouble is that people would have kept it fairly quiet so might be difficult to find out how prevalent it was.
Although slightly different circumstances -on 69 sqn in Malta - Warby and co took an experienced camera fitter with them whilst flying operations in Beaufighter PR a/c -these brave volunteers changed magazines/fixed snags etc and acted as lookouts for enemy fighters.
I do not have a book to hand but a quick google comes up with 3 names...
Corporal Liebert, LAC Norman Shirley , LAC Ron Hadden. Although I have not read the book for years I believe that at least 1 of these men was decorated with a flying medal (DFM ?) -which in itself was extremely rare for groundcrew.
Trouble is that people would have kept it fairly quiet so might be difficult to find out how prevalent it was.
Although slightly different circumstances -on 69 sqn in Malta - Warby and co took an experienced camera fitter with them whilst flying operations in Beaufighter PR a/c -these brave volunteers changed magazines/fixed snags etc and acted as lookouts for enemy fighters.
I do not have a book to hand but a quick google comes up with 3 names...
Corporal Liebert, LAC Norman Shirley , LAC Ron Hadden. Although I have not read the book for years I believe that at least 1 of these men was decorated with a flying medal (DFM ?) -which in itself was extremely rare for groundcrew.
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The Nazi Propaganda Ministry made a big deal of a young woman who was found in the wreckage of an RAF Bomber Command aeroplane in 1943/1944 and who was a member of the groundcrew who had "gone along for the ride"
All very unofficial, of course.
All very unofficial, of course.
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I can remember reading one of i think it was an Anson on an airtest when they had major problems and the pilot told the lad they had took along they were going to bail out, at that point several other worried faces appeared behind him, none of which had chutes... luckily he managed to get it back on the ground....
The worst must have been the FW190, during the invasion when moving fwd to operating bases they would shove a member of the groundcrew through the maintainance hatch into the rear fuselage and panel him in, often pilots who had the chance to jump when attacked by Allied aircraft elected to stay with their plane in a vain attempt to save the person in the back...
What the RAF came up with to transport people on a Spitfire with was erm so frightning they couldn't get anyone to test it, including the inventor.. it consisted of a glorified bodybag with straps that looped over the canon stubs on the leading edge!!
The worst must have been the FW190, during the invasion when moving fwd to operating bases they would shove a member of the groundcrew through the maintainance hatch into the rear fuselage and panel him in, often pilots who had the chance to jump when attacked by Allied aircraft elected to stay with their plane in a vain attempt to save the person in the back...
What the RAF came up with to transport people on a Spitfire with was erm so frightning they couldn't get anyone to test it, including the inventor.. it consisted of a glorified bodybag with straps that looped over the canon stubs on the leading edge!!
Some images of the transport bag that Nutloose refers to.
More transportation pods at the following.
From
WHY NO ESCAPE OR RESCUE FROM U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT?
More transportation pods at the following.
From
WHY NO ESCAPE OR RESCUE FROM U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT?
Although not quite in the same vein as volunteer passengers/good luck charms:
As a 14 year-old I remember reading "The History of the Red Air Force" (origins forgotten) where it was stated that Tupolev bombers carried paratroops (sans Parachutes) holding on to cables bolted to the wings for the invasion of Finland. When flying "quite low" the troops were signalled to let go and slide off the wings into (an expected) 15ft of snow.
Even as a 14 year-old I wondered how they carried their guns...
From memory, the book didn't state how successful that strategy was or how many repeated raids were carried out.
As a 14 year-old I remember reading "The History of the Red Air Force" (origins forgotten) where it was stated that Tupolev bombers carried paratroops (sans Parachutes) holding on to cables bolted to the wings for the invasion of Finland. When flying "quite low" the troops were signalled to let go and slide off the wings into (an expected) 15ft of snow.
Even as a 14 year-old I wondered how they carried their guns...
From memory, the book didn't state how successful that strategy was or how many repeated raids were carried out.
Being as this thread has already 'drifted'...as a slight aside...
In his book 'Flight Path' Frank T Courtney writes that he was an apprentice with and got his 'ticket' at the Grahame White school at Hendon pre WW1.He joined the RFC as an AM 2 (Air Mechanic 2nd class),he was already an experienced engine mechanic - so quite a rarity then ,but due to a chronic pilot shortage and because he was already a civilian pilot he voluntarily took on some of the less popular flying tasks and despite wearing spectacles was eventually given RFC wings whilst still an AM2 and without any military flying training/test.He eventually managed to wangle his way to france to operational sqdns, was eventually promoted through the ranks to captain and became a freelance test pilot post war (inc for cierva on the autogiro).
Fascinating book by the way...really unputdownable
I believe that there was one other airman pilot in WW1 ,but he was an AM 1
In his book 'Flight Path' Frank T Courtney writes that he was an apprentice with and got his 'ticket' at the Grahame White school at Hendon pre WW1.He joined the RFC as an AM 2 (Air Mechanic 2nd class),he was already an experienced engine mechanic - so quite a rarity then ,but due to a chronic pilot shortage and because he was already a civilian pilot he voluntarily took on some of the less popular flying tasks and despite wearing spectacles was eventually given RFC wings whilst still an AM2 and without any military flying training/test.He eventually managed to wangle his way to france to operational sqdns, was eventually promoted through the ranks to captain and became a freelance test pilot post war (inc for cierva on the autogiro).
Fascinating book by the way...really unputdownable
I believe that there was one other airman pilot in WW1 ,but he was an AM 1
Tupolev bombers carried paratroops (sans Parachutes) holding on to cables bolted to the wings for the invasion of Finland. When flying "quite low" the troops were signalled to let go and slide off the wings into (an expected) 15ft of snow.
The worst must have been the FW190, during the invasion when moving fwd to operating bases they would shove a member of the groundcrew through the maintainance hatch into the rear fuselage and panel him in
). On at least one documented occasion (in fact on VE-Day), an Fw 190 carrying several pax in the manner described managed to shoot down a Russian aircraft - great for the pilot's victory tally, not so good for the nerves of the pax...
